U.S. patent number 4,243,219 [Application Number 05/932,771] was granted by the patent office on 1981-01-06 for portable lean-to exercising device.
Invention is credited to Paul J. Price.
United States Patent |
4,243,219 |
Price |
January 6, 1981 |
Portable lean-to exercising device
Abstract
A portable exercising device comprising a weight frame that may
be leaned against the top of a door frame for support, which weight
frame supports a weight sled or carriage carrying a selective
number of weights. The carriage travels along the weight frame and
can be pulled from selective heights, depending upon the position
of the pulley on the frame about which a line, which is attached to
the carriage, is reeved.
Inventors: |
Price; Paul J. (Pittsburgh,
PA) |
Family
ID: |
25462890 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/932,771 |
Filed: |
August 11, 1978 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
482/103; 473/457;
482/139; 482/904 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B
21/154 (20130101); A63B 21/0626 (20151001); A63B
21/1681 (20130101); Y10S 482/904 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A63B
21/00 (20060101); A63B 21/16 (20060101); A63B
021/06 () |
Field of
Search: |
;272/118,117,124,142,130,143,DIG.4,900 ;273/26D,26B,29A,63R,67A
;187/10 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Pinkham; Richard C.
Assistant Examiner: Browne; William R.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Ruano; William J.
Claims
I claim:
1. A portable exercising device comprising a rectangular frame,
which has side frame members, and which is adapted to be leaned and
inclined against a door frame and being of greater length than the
height of said frame, said rectangular frame being devoid of
attaching means either to a wall or floor of a building, said
rectangular frame having a weight carrying carriage mounted thereon
which is guided along the frame by the inclined side frame members,
a line attached at one end to said carriage, a pulley secured at
the top portion of said rectangular frame about which said line is
entrained, pulley means connected to the intermediate portion of
said rectangular frame to enable the intermediate portion of said
line to extend at selective heights through the opening of said
door frame and substantially at right angles to said rectangular
frame, the other end of the line being detachably secured to a
sports item held by a user which may be swung forwardly under
resistance of the weight of said carriage, whereby a pulling force
is applied to said rectangular frame in the direction of said door
frame.
2. A portable sxercising device as recited in claim 1 together with
a stop element secured to the top portion of said rectangular frame
and engageable with the head portion of said door frame to limit
vertically upward movement of said rectangular frame.
3. An exercising device as recited in claim 1 wherein said sides of
the rectangular frame comprise telescoping adjustable rails for
selectively increasing or decreasing the length of said rectangular
frame.
4. An exercising device as recited in claim 1 together with a guy
rope detachably connected to a central, bottom portion of said
rectangular frame, and a rod detachably connected to the
extremities of said guy rope, which rod extends beyond the width of
a door opening so as to securely hold the bottom of said
rectangular frame against sliding away from the bottom of a door
opening.
5. An exercising device as recited in claim 4 together with a
spring connected intermediate said guy rope.
6. An exercising device as recited in claim 1 wherein said carriage
has wheels adapted to ride along said sides of said rectangular
frame.
Description
This invention relates to an exercising device and, more
particularly, to a device for allowing the use of selective sports
items to be swung or otherwise moved so as to develop muscles for
the proficient use or handling of such items.
An outstanding disadvantage of commonly used exercising devices is
that they are cumbersome in construction, heavy in weight, and
require attachment to a wall for resisting loads involved during
exercising, --also they are relatively expensive to
manufacture.
An object of my invention is to provide a novel exercising device
that overcomes the abovenamed disadvantages.
A more specific object of my invention is to provide a readily
portable exercising device that requires no attachment to a wall or
floor and which involves a minimum number of light weight, standard
parts that can be manufactured at very low cost, compared to that
of comparable exercising equipment presently used, and that can be
compacted into a small package which is readily portable.
Another object of my invention is to provide an exercising device
that can be supported on a doorway or the like, such as on a joist
in a basement, with no requirement of fastening to either the floor
or wall.
Other objects and advantages will become more apparent from a study
of the following description taken with the accompanying drawing
wherein:
FIG. 1 is an elevational view of an exercising device embodying the
principles of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a side view of the device shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view taken along line
III--III of FIG. 2; and
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV--IV of FIG.
2.
Referring more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing,
numeral 1 denotes a ladder-like weight frame having sides in the
form of hollow telescoping rails 2, preferably of light metal such
as aluminum. A plurality of vertically spaced cross bars 3 extend
across the weight frame and are detachably fastened thereto such as
by clamps secured by thumb nuts or the like. Each cross frame 3
supports, by means of an eye, a pulley 4.
Attached to the top portion of the weight frame 1 and, that is, on
the rails 2 are a pair of elbows 5 having caps 6 of rubber or
plastic material serving as stop elements. Caps 6 are also provided
at the tops of rails 2.
Guy ropes 17 are provided for securely holding the weight frame
against sliding movement on a floor or the like. The guy ropes 17
have hooks 18 at the ends which are fastened to a rod 16 which
extends beyond the sides of a doorway opening D, shown in dot and
dash outline. At the same time, the caps 6 at the top of the rail
2, rest against a doorframe, as shown in FIG. 2. Instead, hooks 18
may engage parts 7 and spring 19 hooked to the center of rod 16
which rod may be telescoped.
The rails 2 are adjustable in height by providing a plurality of
holes 7a which may be moved into registry with corresponding holes
spaced apart by the same distance in telescoping tube base parts 7.
Floor pads 8 are provided at the bottom of the weight frame with
stop flanges 9 extending therefrom.
A weight sled or carriage 10 is provided, which may be mounted on
wheels 11. In some cases, the wheels may be omitted and the sled is
merely slid along rails 2. An internally threaded base support 12
is fastened to the bottom of the weight sled for supporting a pin
13 which is externally threaded at one end and screwed into the
threads of part 12 to act as a support for selective numbers of
weights W, each having a central hole therein.
A line or rope 14 of any suitable, strong flexible material may be
fastened, at one end, to an eye 15 attached to the weight frame and
may be entrained, selectively, either about the top pulley 4, as
shown in dot and dash outline, or about a central pulley 4, as
shown in full lines, or about the lowermost pulley 4, as shown in
dot and dash outline, depending upon the type of sports item that
is being swung during the exercise. As an example, a bat 17, having
an eye 14a rigidly secured thereto, is detachably connected to the
extremity of the line 14 as shown. As the bat is swung forwardly,
it is resisted by the weight of the weight sled. Other substitute
sports items can be used instead of bat 17 such as a tennis raquet
or a short handled device. A hockey stick or bowling ball or ankle
harness will probably be attached to the lowermost pulley.
The weight frame may be propped against a doorway opening or
against a basement floor joist or the top of a garage door opening
with the various components in place.
The line position is dictated by the particular sports item handle
to be used. If more strength is desired for throwing a foorball,
the uppermost position of the line would be used. If more power is
desired by hockey players or bowlers, then the hockey handle or
bowling ball used would be in the lowermost line position.
The weight frame, if desired, may be made in two parts, telescoped
together at a central intermediate position, if desired, to make it
more readily foldable into a compact unit, or it may be pivoted
centrally so as to be collapsible to one half of normal height (not
shown).
Thus it will be seen that I have provided a highly efficient
exercising device that enables the development of muscles and
skills in numerous sports items by the mere selection of the
elevation at which the line will be pulled in a forward direction,
thereby providing great versatility to the device; also I have
provided an exercising device which is extremely light in weight,
inexpensive to manufacture, being made of a minimum number of
simple standard parts, and, most of all, which requires no
anchoring by permanent fastening means to a wall or floor but,
instead, simply props against a doorway so that the device may be
easily and quickly mounted, dismounted and stored away in a
cupboard or the like.
While I have illustrated and described a single specific embodiment
of my invention, it will be understood that this is by way of
illustration only and that various changes and modifications may be
contemplated in my invention and within the scope of the following
claims.
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